► The purpose of this study was the synthesis of selective ligands that are important to understand the classes of glutamate binding proteins (i.e. Glu receptors…
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▼ The purpose of this study was the synthesis of selective ligands that are important to understand the classes of glutamate binding proteins (i.e. Glu receptors vs. transporters) and also to define their mechanism of action. Increased selectivity at the various Glu binding proteins should result in better therapeutic outcomes to a host of neurological disorders of the Central Nervous System (CNS). Glutamate, a major excitatory amino acid in the CNS, works through four different classes of receptors; three that are heterogeneous, ionotropic excitatory amino acid (EAA) receptors (iGluRs), named N-methyl –D- aspartic acid (NMDA). (RS)-2-amino-3-(3-hydroxy-5-methylisoxazole-4-yl) propionic acid (AMPA), and kainic acid (KA) receptors, and the fourth heterogeneous class is the metabotropic EAA receptor (mGluRs).
It is now generally agreed that iGluRs as well as subtypes of these receptors are potential targets for therapeutic intervention in a number of diseases and that iGluRs and mGluRs have important roles in the healthy as well as diseased CNS. Thus, ligands that bind these receptors with a high degree of affinity may serve as molecular probes into the mechanism of action of these receptors. 2-Amino-(3-carboxyl-5-methyl-4-isoxazoleyl) propionic acid (ACPA) has been identified as a promising lead in the search for potential selective glutamate binding protein ligands due to its high efficacy and specificity. In previous work from our group, it was found that isoxazole analogs bearing a hydrozone moiety in the ACPA class had promising Xc_ activity, however, the synthesis was plagued by the observation of ring closure to the isoxazolo[3,4-d]pyridazinones, which had lowered biological activity. A mechanistic hypothesis is advanced in which a carbonyl group is inserted into the structure to slow or prevent cyclization to the less active [3,4-d] by-product. This study discusses a comparison between the Microwave Accelerated Reaction System (MARS) and conventional reflux methods to prepare the desired hydrozone-containing targets. MARS proved to produce isoxazoles with the open hydrazone form predominating, constituting a complete SAR series, and exhibited robust activity in biological assays.

► The Community Resilience Training (CRT) Project Proposal is a design for the creation and implementation of a multi-level, adaptive curriculum designed to improve community resilience…
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▼ The Community Resilience Training (CRT) Project Proposal is a design for the creation and implementation of a multi-level, adaptive curriculum designed to improve community resilience to disasters and other major disruption. Grounded in chaos theory and the complexity paradigm of disaster response, the CRT program is designed to provide information at the community level to promote change throughout the disaster preparedness, response, relief, and recovery process. The CRT project incorporates permaculture technology, wilderness medicine protocols, community organizing skills, and transnational advocacy competencies with traditional community knowledge to create a culturally specific training curriculum. Through the research process, community knowledge and needs will be identified, allowing for the adaptation of the CRT framework to be adapted to local needs. Further, the CRT program would facilitate the transfer of effective community adaptations to disruption to other vulnerable communities.

► For nearly a century the Sami peoples of Norway were subject to colonial policies of assimilation and integration. According to historians of the Sami, colonial…
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▼ For nearly a century the Sami peoples of Norway were subject to colonial policies of assimilation and integration. According to historians of the Sami, colonial processes stigmatized Sami individuals and the Sami culture, producing feelings of shame. The concept of shame, for both individuals and groups, centers on experiencing fear, pain, and/or uneasiness, and requires a judging audience. Honor is about individuals transcending self-interest and the need for individuals and groups to acquire self-esteem for that purpose; it also requires a judging audience. Concepts of shame and honor played an important role during the Alta conflict; a watershed moment in recent history of Sami, Norwegian relations. The conflict arose in the 1970s, when Norway decided to build a hydroelectric power plant on the Alta-Kautokeino River, resulting in the flooding of Sami villages, farmland, and pasture land. Sami individuals of the boarding school generation, now educated in the same manner as Norwegians, organized collectively and protested against the proposed construction of the dam. While Sami individual and group activism failed to halt the project, it did signal a change in the political power structure between Sami peoples and Norway from one based on Sami subordination to one based on mutual respect. This helped change Sami identity from being seen as inferior to one deserving of respect, collectively and individually; which in turn elevated the status of Sami individuals and the Sami culture.

Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation

Council of Science Editors:

Bremmer MT. ASSESSING THE ROLE OF SHAME AND HONOR DURING THE ALTA CONFLICT. [Thesis]. Montana Tech; 2012. Available from: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/72

Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation

Montana Tech

4.
Running Crane, Wendy Linn.
DO TRADITIONAL SOCIOLOGICAL VARIABLES APPLY THE SAME IN AMERICAN INDIAN COMMUNITIES? A COMPARISON OF THE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION, SOCIAL BOND, AND SOCIAL LEARNING VARIABLES ON DELINQUENCY AND SUBSTANCE USE AMONG MERICAN INDIAN, WHITE, AND OTHER RACE YOUTH.

► The history and current situations of American Indians are unique and important arenas to forward the study of crime and delinquency. There may be no…
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▼ The history and current situations of American Indians are unique and important arenas to forward the study of crime and delinquency. There may be no better group available to study the combined effects of concentrated disadvantage, social disorganization, and abrupt societal change than the modern day American Indian community. But do traditional variables constructed to test sociological theories fit the study of this population? Findings from hypotheses testing the differences in overall effects of social control, social disorganization, social bonding, and social learning variables on delinquency and substance use suggest that there are differences in their ability to account for the variation among respondents of American Indian, White, and other racial backgrounds. The effect of social control
variables for American Indian youth substance use and delinquency was particularly important. Social learning and social control variables were consistently strong predictors of delinquency and substance use for all races, while social bond
variables were not. This might simply mean that not only are the variable models not adequate explanations for the patterns reported by AI youth, but they might not be adequate for any of the youth regardless of their race. But it could also indicate differences in worldview and the understanding of indicators used to measure
variables. These findings support the applicability of some theoretical variables for the research of American Indians, but suggest that there are key differences that merit further attention in the literature, policy, and practice.

Running Crane, W. L. (2010). DO TRADITIONAL SOCIOLOGICAL VARIABLES APPLY THE SAME IN AMERICAN INDIAN COMMUNITIES? A COMPARISON OF THE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION, SOCIAL BOND, AND SOCIAL LEARNING VARIABLES ON DELINQUENCY AND SUBSTANCE USE AMONG MERICAN INDIAN, WHITE, AND OTHER RACE YOUTH. (Thesis). Montana Tech. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/333

Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation

Chicago Manual of Style (16th Edition):

Running Crane, Wendy Linn. “DO TRADITIONAL SOCIOLOGICAL VARIABLES APPLY THE SAME IN AMERICAN INDIAN COMMUNITIES? A COMPARISON OF THE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION, SOCIAL BOND, AND SOCIAL LEARNING VARIABLES ON DELINQUENCY AND SUBSTANCE USE AMONG MERICAN INDIAN, WHITE, AND OTHER RACE YOUTH.” 2010. Thesis, Montana Tech. Accessed January 21, 2019.
https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/333.

Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation

MLA Handbook (7th Edition):

Running Crane, Wendy Linn. “DO TRADITIONAL SOCIOLOGICAL VARIABLES APPLY THE SAME IN AMERICAN INDIAN COMMUNITIES? A COMPARISON OF THE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION, SOCIAL BOND, AND SOCIAL LEARNING VARIABLES ON DELINQUENCY AND SUBSTANCE USE AMONG MERICAN INDIAN, WHITE, AND OTHER RACE YOUTH.” 2010. Web. 21 Jan 2019.

Vancouver:

Running Crane WL. DO TRADITIONAL SOCIOLOGICAL VARIABLES APPLY THE SAME IN AMERICAN INDIAN COMMUNITIES? A COMPARISON OF THE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION, SOCIAL BOND, AND SOCIAL LEARNING VARIABLES ON DELINQUENCY AND SUBSTANCE USE AMONG MERICAN INDIAN, WHITE, AND OTHER RACE YOUTH. [Internet] [Thesis]. Montana Tech; 2010. [cited 2019 Jan 21].
Available from: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/333.

Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation

Council of Science Editors:

Running Crane WL. DO TRADITIONAL SOCIOLOGICAL VARIABLES APPLY THE SAME IN AMERICAN INDIAN COMMUNITIES? A COMPARISON OF THE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION, SOCIAL BOND, AND SOCIAL LEARNING VARIABLES ON DELINQUENCY AND SUBSTANCE USE AMONG MERICAN INDIAN, WHITE, AND OTHER RACE YOUTH. [Thesis]. Montana Tech; 2010. Available from: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/333

Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation

▼ Auditory processing disorders (APDs) affect a diverse range of people. These types of disorders impair auditory function, despite the outer, middle and inner ear maintaining proper function and health. APD is not necessarily related to auditory thresholds. When people with APD have difficulty discriminating sounds in connected speech, it may be due in part to an effect called Backward Masking (BM). Masking occurs when one stimulus inhibits another, which can lead to a variety of impairments. The neural locus of APDs is for the most part unknown, including the specific conditions which cause BM. A better understanding of these processes would lead to a greater ability to provide an intervention and therapy for APD. Responses have been well documented in a forward-masking paradigm, but not so under a backward masking condition. The significances of these backward masking responses are yielded through electrode signal input, a large degree of amplification and summation analyses of brain wave data. In this research a latency and amplitude deviance was detected in the early and middle stages of the auditory evoked response.

► The present study aimed to investigate human balance control by assessing postural sway on three groups representing three stages of life (6-12, 19-40 and…
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▼ The present study aimed to investigate human balance control by assessing postural sway on three groups representing three stages of life (6-12, 19-40 and 65-74 years old). There were 14 individuals in each group and they were tested during upright bipedal stance with either eyes open or closed. Focus was given to multiple sway indices representing multi-dimensional features of postural sway in quiet stance and included: the center of pressure area, amplitude, root mean square (RMS), velocity, jerkiness, and sample entropy. Results confirmed that children and seniors swayed more (p<.004), faster (p<.001) and their body sway was shakier (p<.001) than young adults. Seniors also presented faster (p<.006) and shakier (p<.001) sway than children and a more unpredictable pattern of body sway in time (p<.002) than children and young adults. In addition, children presented a more random anterior-posterior sway (p<.034) and a more regular medio-lateral sway (p<.043) than young adults, and a higher synchronization between anterior-posterior and medio-lateral body sway (p<.012) than young adults and seniors. We also observed that postural control of children and young adults becomes relatively more challenged in experimental situations when eyes were closed for most postural indices. In conclusion, this study suggests that multi-dimension posturography is sensitive to detect subtle age-related changes in the postural behavior and each stage of life may have their own signature patterns of postural behavior. Therefore, we expect that quantifications of this nature may be used to assess not only postural instability and fall risk but also to aid the testing of the efficacy of balance interventional protocols.

► Since the Industrial Revolution, the world's oceans have absorbed increasing amounts of CO2 and the resultant changes to the marine carbonate chemical system have…
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▼ Since the Industrial Revolution, the world's oceans have absorbed increasing amounts of CO2 and the resultant changes to the marine carbonate chemical system have reduced the pH by > 0.1 units (~ 30%) in surface waters. This acidification of the oceans has many far reaching impacts on marine life and there is great need of quality instrumentation to assess and follow the changing carbonate system. This MIS project aims to develop a low cost pH sensor with high precision and accuracy for open sea measurements with special emphasis on reduced size and cost. Design effort is based on the commercially available in situ ocean pH sensor, the SAMI-pH. Emphasis on small size and low cost will allow deployment of the sensors on a much wider variety of platforms than are currently viable thus greatly extending the spatial and temporal resolution of ocean acidification measurements. One such platform is NOAAs Global Drifter Program, a network of non-recovered drifting buoys that has potential for ocean carbon cycle research. A prototype instrument was designed, the inexpensive SAMI-pH or iSAMI-pH. This instrument was entered into the Wendy Schmidt Ocean Health (WSOH) XPRIZE. This was an incentivized global competition to spur innovation in pH sensor technology with both accuracy and affordability prize purses totaling $2 million dollars. The affordability purse consisted of three phases of testing that explored accuracy, precision and stability using a variety of tests that spanned 6 months. It progressed from bench testing in a temperature controlled chamber and a 60 day tank test at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), to a month long deployment in a specially designed tank at the Seattle Aquarium that used the highly variable waters of Puget Sound. In lab testing, the iSAMI showed ± 0.01 accuracy. In the MBARI test tank, the iSAMI showed precision of ± 0.004 pH units and stability of 0.008 pH units per month with validation uncertainty of ± 0.009 pH units. In the coastal trials, the iSAMI again showed a precision of ± 0.004 pH units and a stability of 0.011 pH units per month with a validation uncertainty of ± 0.012 pH units. Stability or drift was statistically indistinguishable from that of the validation measurements. The iSAMI was in excellent agreement with the commercially available SAMI-pH which won the accuracy prize purse of the WSOH XPRIZE. The iSAMI won the affordability prize purse exceeding the performance metrics by several fold.

► Abstract: Healing Self and Community: Living Pluralism in The Anishinaabe This thesis is a study of pluralism through Anishinaabe writers Winona LaDuke, Basil Johnston,…
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▼ Abstract: Healing Self and Community: Living Pluralism in The Anishinaabe
This thesis is a study of pluralism through Anishinaabe writers Winona LaDuke, Basil Johnston, Lynn Anderson, and others, focusing on their perceptions and pedagogies and how those perceptions inform pluralistic living. Anishinaabe methodology tends to be innately interconnected, and pluralistic. As such, it can enlighten, heal self-identity structures, and perceptions of the biosphere. I will contextualize how it is necessary to investigate the stories we learn and those we tell, how it is vital to understand where they come from. Included is analysis of how pluralism shows up in mine and other Anishinaabe life ways through the literary works of Winona LaDuke, and Last Standing Woman; Recovering the Sacred: The Power of Naming and Claiming; Basil Johnston, The Manitous: Spiritual world of the Ojibway; and Kim Anderson, Life Stages and Native Women: Memory, Teachings, and Story Medicine; and other Anishinaabe literary work. The voices of traditional Anishinaabe methodologies have much to contribute to the idea of healing self and community. The importance of taking responsibility, being honest, and being compassionate can help us move away from compartmentalized approaches and dialectic conversations that oppose each other. Instead of oppositional tactics, pluralism attempts to call for a dialogic, interdisciplinary approach that could greatly advance our current perspectives. Pluralism asks for deep inquiry into one’s self and perceptions of the world. We will see examples of inclusive, reciprocal and innovative perspectives of the Anishinaabeg. Cooperation with Indigenous people’s worldviews and pedagogies can help us be better equipped for mitigating the social, educational, and ecological concerns of our contemporary culture.

► Alkalinity is the acid neutralizing capacity for water, meaning alkalinity measures how sensitive an aquatic system is to acidic inputs. Currently, there are various…
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▼ Alkalinity is the acid neutralizing capacity for water, meaning alkalinity measures how sensitive an aquatic system is to acidic inputs. Currently, there are various measuring systems for alkalinity available including chemical test kits, potentiometric techniques, and colorimetric methods. Commercially available products lack the ease of use combined with precision and accuracy desired for on-line process and environmental monitoring. The goal of this project is to develop a simplified alkalinity titration analyzer, called the easyTMT, to measure alkalinity with precision and accuracy comparable to the best conventional methods. The system, under development, uses the Tracer Monitored Titration (TMT) technique. TMT is a method that uses a tracer (in this case, a pH sensitive indicator) in the sample or the titrant. Tracking the tracer concentration eliminates the need to measure volumes of the titrant or the sample, allowing for the use of more economical hardware (e.g. simple pumps). The easyTMT has potential applications in industrial and environmental monitoring, as well as many other applications, by removing many potential sources of human error without sacrificing the accuracy and precision of lab-based techniques. As the easyTMT was developed, problems were encountered that required various experiments to be run including buffer studies, dilution factor studies, and changing system materials. These studies pointed to an adsorption and indicator precipitation problem. Major findings include needing to determine a set volume of titrant to use in titrations and to use only HPFA tubing for static mixing, unless using a surfactant with PEEK tubing as adsorption continued to show up as a concern. The system was applied to acid-base titrations in this project, but could be able to be applied to other titration applications.

▼ An invasive fungal pathogen, Cronartium ribicola (the causative agent of white pine blister rust) infects and kills whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) throughout the western US. Blister rust has decreased whitebark pine populations by over 90% in some areas. Whitebark pine, a keystone species, has been proposed for listing under the Endangered Species Act in the U.S., and the loss of this conifer is predicted to have severe impacts on forest composition and function in high elevations. Hundreds of asymptomatic fungal species live inside whitebark pine tissue, and recent studies suggest that these fungi can influence the frequency and severity of pathogens such C. ribicola. I used molecular methods to characterize the fungal community in whitebark pine seedlings from 21 half-sibling seed families, sourced throughout the Pacific Northwest, and grown in a common garden. I characterized endophyte communities before and after experimental inoculation with blister rust and compared community composition in susceptible vs. resistant seedlings. I also explored the defensive chemistry of these same seedlings in relation to the fungal community and overall disease severity. Seed family was the biggest driver of endophyte community composition in our common garden, but I also observed shifts in fungal communities in response to blister rust infection. Seed family identity also influenced defensive chemistry, with terpene concentration differing in resistant and susceptible seedlings. In addition, both defensive chemistry and endophyte community were correlated with characteristics of disease severity. Endophyte communities and defensive chemistry in whitebark pine that can predict disease severity may act as biomarkers of disease resistance for future breeding programs. These results suggest that the resistance to white pine blister rust observed in natural whitebark pine populations may be a combination of genetics, endophytes, and terpene composition in needle tissue, where initial interactions between the pathogen endophytes, the host take place.

► While planning my course schedule for the 2009 Spring Semester, I found myself desperately short of elective credits toward my Bachelor of Arts degree…
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▼ While planning my course schedule for the 2009 Spring Semester, I found myself desperately short of elective credits toward my Bachelor of Arts degree in Geography in order to graduate by the end of the 2010 Autumn Semester. From the limited course choices offered for the spring semester, only two worked with the other required courses I needed as well: Cultural & Global Competence and Global Hot Spots. Little did I know at the time, but the latter would prove to be the most stimulating course of my entire undergraduate geography program. Not only did this course forge within me a true interest in the current affairs of an ever-growing globalized society, it also provided me with a thesis topic to pursue during my anticipated master’s program.
At the heart of the Global Hot Spots’ curriculum were three over-arching themes: the global food crisis, the global health crisis, and the global environment crisis. These themes laid the groundwork for all topics that fueled our daily projects and peer discussions. The topics included, but were not limited to, economic globalization; rising levels of obesity in Western countries; the insurgence of global “super bugs;” issues related to projected world population growth rates; the emergence of a global north versus a global south; and projected sea-level rise owing to rising temperatures.
As a class, the first item we would broach each meeting were two questions meant to open our daily in-class discussions. But on March 12, 2009 we, as a class, failed to answer the questions for the first and only time. The two questions were: “What is a Climate Refugee; define and give examples?” and “What are ways potential Climate Refugees can alter their traditional/current homes to prevent climate/environmental displacement? Give examples if known?” Our entire group was thoroughly puzzled by the idea of a refugee being a displaced member of a society because of climate change, let alone methods by which humans could adapt fast enough to preserve their ways of life against something so powerful as the climate change. Ever since that day, the mounting realities of climate refugees, how they have come to exist from human prehistory to the present, and the growing global issues related to their ever-increasing numbers has provided not only my thesis topic but commanded (and haunted to a certain extent) my research interests for the last four years.
However, about half way through my graduate program, my studies took a turn away from my original proposed topic of simply researching climate refugees. Through many lively discussions with my peers, co-workers, and anyone curious about my chosen topic of climate refugees, I began to realize over time that the vast majority of the people I interacted with had no idea what a climate refugee was, is, or will be. This ostensibly universal ignorance made the navigation of a discussion that revolved around climate refugees quite perilous at times. Eventually, I came to notice that…

► Afghanistan is a landlocked and mountainous country, the country shares its border with six different countries, namely, Pakistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and China. The…
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▼ Afghanistan is a landlocked and mountainous country, the country shares its border with six different countries, namely, Pakistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and China. The longest country to border Afghanistan is Pakistan (at 2,430 kilometers), whereas the smallest is China (at 76 kilometers) . The majority of the population lives in the most remote rural and mountainous areas. The primary health care system has similar problems to other civil sectors of the country due to the last three decades of war. Consequently, most people in the provinces of Afghanistan do not have access to primary health care due to lack of professional health care, hospitals, clinics, poverty, and finally lack of road infrastructure from one province to another province.
The Afghan government tried to solve this problem by creating and implementing the Basic Package Health Service (BPHS) and later the Essential Package Health Service (EPHS) which were designed after the fall of Taliban regime in 2001. These programs represent important elements in the development of the health care system of Afghanistan in order to deliver primary health care services to Afghans in every part of the country. However, many obstacles exist that prevent the complete implementation of these programs throughout country. In the author’s experience as a medical student in 2008 in 10 hospitals in Kabul, there is lack of security, hospitals, medical equipment, and basic diagnostic and treatment services. In addition, the staffs are poorly managed and there is poor coordination between hospital systems, limited financial resources, and lack of professional personnel, especially female health care workers.
In order to solve these problems, the Afghan government must build hospitals in remote areas and allocate enough funds for the health sector in rural areas. In addition, it should provide short-term and long-term training for women in nursing and midwifery in the provinces of rural areas, and provide management training for all new graduate doctors throughout the country. This training should be conducted by the Ministry of Public Health of Afghanistan with the help of national and international experts in health management and leadership. The long-term goal of quality primary health care for all Afghans requires the combination of specific factors including foreign aid, physician specialties, and time.
Hiring and engaging more health care workers in remote areas will allow Afghan citizens in rural areas to have access to professional medical care. In addition, The Ministry of Public Health needs to identify problems that professional medical personnel are experiencing, and it needs to establish coordination between the hospitals and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO). Development of good leadership and a management system for all the hospitals in the country is the solution to implement these programs successfully in urban and rural areas of Afghanistan.

► Historically, different nations-states at different times have tried to claim authority over the Sámi in the circumpolar north. After the nation state borders were…
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▼ Historically, different nations-states at different times have tried to claim authority over the Sámi in the circumpolar north. After the nation state borders were drawn in the 1700s and 1800s, separating Russia, Norway, Sweden and Finland, Norway introduced a harsh and 1800s separating Russia, Norway, Sweden and Finland, Norway introduced a harsh assimilation policy that lasted over a century. Cultural Darwinist views and national assimilationist legislation and social strategies chipped away at Sámi society and its identity as an indigenous people. Over time Sámi women found their accustomed social, economic, and political autonomy eroded. Post World War II, the emerging welfare state of Norway began a policy of “rationalization” in an attempt to equalize and raise living standards for their citizens. The result was an increase of social and national pressures that called for the Sámi people to conform to the majority society. Social efforts at rebuilding the nation were constructed according to Norwegian political, economic, educational, and cultural norms and the Sámi were feeling increasingly unrepresented. It was at this point, between the end of the war and the later part of 1960s, a kind of Sámi renaissance arose. Through the organization of knowledge, the Sámi opened up new areas of social and political understanding. For women, the formation of cooperation initiated by Elsa Laula-Renberg in 1904 created the atmosphere for Sámi women to begin evaluating their positions and roles in a modernized and advancing society, along with giving women the political and structural tools to address their concerns regarding increasing social and economic inequalities. The 1978 Reindeer Herding Act was dubbed a gender neutral policy; however, because of ambiguities and omissions in the construction of the act, it only continued to perpetuate Sámi women’s invisibility as participants in an occupation that was traditionally central to their ethnic identity. In response Sámi women in the 1970s and 1980s began holding seminars and created organizations to address these issues socially and politically.

► Uranium is an element of interest because it is an abundant source of concentrated energy. In 1948 the US offered money for uranium ore…
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▼ Uranium is an element of interest because it is an abundant source of concentrated energy. In 1948 the US offered money for uranium ore mined in the US, which created a mining boom in the southwest that included the Navajo Reservation. During the late 1960s the demand for uranium decreased and many mining operations shutdown and left behind a legacy of contamination. As a result many Navajo communities have numerous water sources that exceed established maximum contamination levels for uranium and other toxic metals. These contaminations are a direct result of abandoned Cold War uranium mines and mill waste sites as well as the geology of the area. The improper disposal of these wastes has resulted in adverse health and ecological impacts.
Groundwater contaminations caused by heavy metal ions remain an environmental concern, despite many years of research on remediation. Traditional solvent extraction methods are expensive, time consuming and pose additional problems with the generation of waste products. The aim of this study is to use solid phase extraction methods to remediate contaminated water sources. An example is Silica Polyamine Composites (SPC), which have been used to filter, isolate and remove unwanted metals by acting as a chelating agent.
Given the high valent nature of uranium and the effectiveness of adsorption of metals from wastewaters and mine leachates by SPCs, we hypothesized that a phosphonated SPC will be effective at removing uranyl ions from contaminated water. An aminophosphonic acid functionalized SPC, BPAP, has been applied to uranium adsorption studies. This study has determined BPAP’s ability to be selective for uranium adsorption even in the presence of high concentrations of ions that form complexes with the uranyl cation, such as nitrate and sulfate, using batch capacity studies. Using ICP-OES analysis, we determined BPAPs capacity for uranium in aqueous solutions as 0.42 mmol/g. In addition, we have determined the working capacity of BPAP to be 146 mg/g under flow conditions. Although this result is far from ideal studies are currently underway to minimize the differences and acquire more accurate data. It is ideal to have both the batch capacity and working capacity to be close in value because it demonstrates the potential for a remedial application. One positive aspect of these studies are the recovery of the uranium from the BPAP column with a sodium carbonate gave a solution that was 50 times more concentrated than the feed. Again this shows the ability of SPCs, in general, to not only remediate but to also recover the metal(s) for the intent of reusability. Previous reports have shown that these materials can survive more than 3000 cycles of metal ion extraction, elution and regeneration with less than 10% loss of capacity.

► Alternative petroleum-derived fuels, such as biofuels, is another form to decrease the dependence of non-renewable energy. The most promising alternative energy is cellulosic ethanol…
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▼ Alternative petroleum-derived fuels, such as biofuels, is another form to decrease the dependence of non-renewable energy. The most promising alternative energy is cellulosic ethanol because of the abundance of cellulose and the overall lack of concern for the food-versus-fuel dilemma.
In order to produce ethanol from cellulosic materials, pretreatment is required to “open” the lignocellulosic matrix and make cellulose more susceptible to enzymatic degradation. Enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulose is an important area of research due to the absence of negative effects in downstream processes in comparison with acid hydrolysis. Both natural enzymes and engineered enzymes can be used in the process of ethanol production. Natural enzymes are found either individually or as a part of a complex known as cellulosome. Such complexes are the focus of many studies due to the efficiency in the degradation of cellulose. Research in enzymatic engineering is being done in order to mimic these natural systems. Engineered individual enzymes are also used to improve the properties of the enzymes found in nature. Enzymes can be engineered by rational design or directed evolution. Directed evolution is the most efficient technology, since it only requires the knowledge of protein sequences. However, this approach also possesses some limitations. A combination of both methods or a “semi-rational” approach is perhaps the best option to develop higher performance lignocellulolytic enzymes.
Many advances regarding engineering of lignocellulolytic enzymes have been made in the last past years. Further research, however, is required in the development of enzymes systems and enzyme industrial testing to establish cellulosic bioethanol as main substitute for petroleum-derived fuel energy.

► Songs are a Blackfoot way of knowing, inseparable from ceremonies that express relationship and responsibility, belonging, and accountability. The relationships and obligations represented in ceremonies…
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▼ Songs are a Blackfoot way of knowing, inseparable from ceremonies that express relationship and responsibility, belonging, and accountability. The relationships and obligations represented in ceremonies make a web that orders and knits together the community. Knowing the songs conveys awareness of, and commitment to, these relationships and obligations.
Early reservation-era polices attempted to suppress Native North American cultures. Aggressive programs of assimilation separated children from parents and placed them in boarding schools where they were punished for speaking their own languages. On reservations, tribal ceremonies, dances, and songs were prohibited. Native ways of learning through oral culture, such as observation, storytelling, practice, and memory were not respected. This undermined tribes by destroying or interrupting the ceremonies, songs and dances that sustained and ordered communities.
Songs are central to induction and transfer ceremonies, which assign responsibility to the new keeper of the powers associated with a specific pipe, bundle or lodge. The fact that sacred objects and ceremonies can be transferred from one person to another allows circulation of spiritual authority/responsibility among the people, unlike institutionalized hierarchies of Euro American Churches. A person has to be worthy of such responsibility, and committed to using the power of the pipe, bundle, or lodge to help those in need. People in the community can request help with life challenges from a pipe, bundle, or lodge holder.
Society songs are the physical documentation of permission to join the society and of your commitment to the behavior required by the society. Society songs are the per formative expression of this permission and obligation. Pipe, bundle and lodge-keeping; like membership in societies, function as collective agreements that order and give meaning to life. Songs for these purposes express these agreements to community, self and spirit.

‘Planting the Seeds of Educational Change’ Indigenous Voices, Multicultural Education, and the US Democratic Ideal An Exploration of the Potential Roles and Influences of Indigenous Voices in Education on Collective Perceptions of Truth and Democracy

► Trillium ovatum is a long-lived, spring ephemeral that grows in moist forest habitats of the western United States. Extensive investigations of Trillium, including T. ovatum,…
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▼ Trillium ovatum is a long-lived, spring ephemeral that grows in moist forest habitats of the western United States. Extensive investigations of Trillium, including T. ovatum, have been accomplished, yet no prior studies of T. ovatum have been conducted at the eastern edge of its distribution in Montana, where populations experience increased aridity and highly variable climatic conditions as compared to other regions where it occurs. This study examines life-history characteristics and demography of T. ovatum in three representative populations that were sampled over 9 growing seasons to determine: 1) life history stages, stage class structure, and yearly transitions among stage classes; 2) age and size of plants and relationships among age, size, and stage class; 3) minimum age of reproduction and fecundity; 4) forest structure and site characteristics.
Life-history stages of T. ovatum include: cotyledon; one-leaf vegetative; three-leaf vegetative (juvenile); three-leaf reproductive (flowering); and three-leaf nonflowering regressive stages. Juvenile plants comprise the majority of each population. Flowering plants represent the only means of reproduction, and plants are slow to reach sexual maturity, which takes a minimum of 18 years. Age and number of seeds produced are positively correlated with individual plant size. Yearly fecundity measures of fruit set, number of seeds produced per plant, and seeds per square meter are highly variable. Trillium exhibit stage class regressions, with an average of 27% of reproductive adults periodically retrogressing to a nonflowering stage. Dormancy was observed in all adult stage classes. Mortality is generally low (<1.5%), and yearly tallies of new plants showed that more plants were ‘recruited’ into the population than died, but no clear changes in population density were documented during the period of this study.
Trillium ovatum face many of the same threats as other forest understory species—logging, overharvest for horticultural/medicinal use, competition from nonnative species, and overgrazing. Low fecundity and recruitment may limit the ability of these populations to recover from stress or mortality events, and make them sensitive to climatic changes and increases in fire disturbances that are likely to occur in this region. Continued long-term monitoring will be invaluable for understanding responses of long-lived forest understory species to the complex interplay of these environmental stresses.

▼ Abstract:
Significant health disparities affect much of the American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) and Native Hawaiian (NH) populations of America.3,6,10,11,14 Inequalities in health care and delivery of services for these populations are a contributing factor to disparate health conditions.2 Lack of equity in areas such as social services18, education, environmental contaminants5,7,8,17, historical trauma1 and acute poverty<a>[a1]</a> <a>[KP2]</a> 16, 19 strongly influence health conditions4. People residing within the remaining tribal lands of the Northern Plains experience markedly higher incidence of disease than other ethnicities within this nation10, ultimately resulting in higher frequency of death and preventable death.2 Cancer is one of the most prevalent diseases that impacts the Amskapi Piikani people of Northern Montana<a>[a3]</a> .
Amskapi Pikuni history has been passed down via oral tradition for hundreds of generations, with creation stories beginning some 20,000 years ago in their present territory. The natural rhythm of life was in the seasonal movement of camps and the summertime gathering together of their many bands. This was the traditional time of passing on the history of the confederated tribes and had always been the way of the Siksikaitapi, “the Original People”. Stories were accepted as fact, not just as anecdotal tales. A record of population, seasonal hunts, warrior activities and society responsibilities, gatherings of nations, ceremonial structures, band movement and simple day-to-day lifestyles all emerged from verbal retellings. For example, accounts of hunting buffalo on foot, before the horse came to the Northern Plains, go unquestioned. While tools, skulls and bone fragments have been found at the sites, the stories are much richer than just the archaeological record. There is little tangible evidence regarding most aspects of the traditional oral history record of the Pikuni, yet few Pikuni doubt that the stories are true.
For many decades, people of the Amskapi Pikuni Nation (also known by others as Southern Blackfeet or Southern Piegan) have shared stories of “something bad” being dumped secretly within the boundaries of their lands, the last of the hunting and gathering territories that still remain in Blackfeet sovereignty. While the actual dumping events took place about fifty years ago, there may still be time to recover direct evidence of toxic disposals. Over the years, stories addressing contaminated waste and the locations of rumored dump sites have also been linked with perceived cancer clusters among residents who lived below the Hudson Bay Divide ridge and along the Del Bonita Road

Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation

Council of Science Editors:

Molloy MS. Personnel development and cross cultural management in the People's Republic of China: A case study and history of Xian Janssen Pharmaceutical Ltd. [Thesis]. Montana Tech; 1997. Available from: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/8669

Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation